


Don't play dead

by Akira14



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-03 17:59:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10972476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akira14/pseuds/Akira14
Summary: "For a thousand years my brother and I have walked this Earth. Countless times, Death has come for us, and countless times we've denied her."And out of those countless times, some haunt him to this day.How close he got to never seeing his brother again. How meaningless the promise of being at each other's side  'always and forever' had seemed, then.aka "5 times Elijah Mikaelson cheated death and one time he didn't. (or did he?)"





	Don't play dead

**Author's Note:**

> So, fandom has failed me here on AO3 with no fics post 4x09. Seems like I have to write them myself... I am a bit rusty though. I hoped I would be able to finish this before 4x10, but I didn't. I still plan to conclude it, but I'm an awfully slow writer...

It can't be real. He doesn't allow it to be, he refuses to acknowledge that Elijah's current _condition_ might not be temporary.  
After all, this is not the first night he has spent pondering if his world can really keep on turning if his brother is not in it, just to realize how ludicrous such a notion would be - it's nothing more than a reminder of what he is fighting for, at best - because there is always going to be a way to guide him home.

Why should this time be any different?

 

 _1._  

The very first time Death comes knocking at the Mikaelsons door, asking for Elijah, they are still human. Frail, breakable. And young, oh so young. Not kids anymore, but not men yet.

  
The first time Death demands his brother to follow her into the dark, it’s because of him.  
Because he was too coward to do what needed to be done, more worried about keeping his conscience clean than protecting his loved ones, and foolish enough to fall for an act.  
  
*************************************  
  
Mikael makes it look so easy, as easy as breathing, but it isn’t.  
Ending a life, when your enemy is looking right into your eyes and pleading to be spared - he too has a family he’s fighting for and there’s more to gain from having a debt to collect than raising the body count of this meaningless war, right? - is proving to be impossible for Klaus.  
He lowers his sword, walking away to reunite with his family and expecting the man to do the same. He doesn’t.  
As soon as Klaus turns his back, he aims his bow for the heart and shoots. The arrow never reaches its intended target, however.  
  
“Look out, Niklaus!” Elijah howls, as he falls to the ground.  
This can’t be happening, his big brother can’t be bleeding out in the woods for someone who isn’t even able too defend himself. Who would be dead for sure if Finn hadn’t shown up as well, slaying their foe before he could finish off his younger siblings.  
It can’t be true. He can’t be such a liability to his own family.  
It’s a nightmare. It has to be.  
  
*********************************  
  
It is not.

He **is** the worst thing that could have ever happened to Esther, Mikael, and all of their children.  
Denying such truth is an useless endeavor: look at their dying son, look how much damage his little brother has caused by refusing to be a warrior. Look what trying to be the delicate flower with a gentle soul, who refuses to harm anyone, has accomplished...  
Even his mother, who might have not tried to stand up for him in front of her husband but who has always tried to comfort him when he’s away, cannot bring herself to reassure him that this is not his fault and that everything will be alright.  
  
“Leave us.” were the only words she said when they brought in their wounded brother. Finn was allowed to stay and help, while he was told to get lost. Esther could have asked him to go look after and entertain the little ones, but now it was a task better left to Kol. A child himself.  
Never has he seen that much disappointment in her eyes, as she was presented with the evidence that Mikael had always been right to call him ‘a disgrace, a weak little runt that was good for nothing at all.’

 

Of course he’s not to allowed to do anything to help, except spending all his spare time begging whomever might listen not to take his brother away. Offering his best art and every little animal that he hunted down to the Gods and the Ancestors, hoping that they would be pleased enough to persuade Hel to give up on Elijah. It might not be as effective as his mother’s spells or herbal remedies, but it could still be crucial to Elijah’s salvation... Who knows?  
__  
‘Can anyone hear me? I **need** him. I am begging you here: take us both or leave us alone.’  He whispers, over and over again, as he lays down to rest his head on his brother’s chest. He needs to hear his heart beating, he would never forgive himself if he missed any change for the worse in his condition.  
__  
“Hey, Niklaus.” A weak hand is now threading through his hair, fondly messing them up. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Better than you, brother.” Klaus huffs, wiping his eyes as traitorous tears already began to fall down. “Do not scare me like that ever again, okay?”  
  
“I won’t, I promise.”  Elijah concedes, even though it’s not like he has a say on the matter. What he is promising is that he is that he will do his best not to go before him. “I will never leave you.”  



End file.
